When I began this project I started by compiling a list of all of the various resources that I have come across over the years that discuss the Poison Path. Some of the best books out there are a little obscure and take a little digging around to find them, since they aren’t mainstream New Age books. I also included various lists of websites and essays dealing with ethnobotanical study, and traditional witch’s herbs. I plan on completing my resource... Read more
As witches and magical practitioners who traffic with the Unseen one of the purposes that we serve is as a living conduit between this world and the world of spirit. We are consciously and unconsciously drawn to the occult, that which is hidden and secret. We ourselves are powerful beings of spirit of an eternal nature, only manifesting in a physical body for a brief fraction of our existence. As witches, we understand that the dead do not leave, they... Read more
This article is an essay from my final project for my Women in Religion class. I thought I would share it with you here, since school is one of the things that can distract me from writing for my blog! Satanism is often used as a negative umbrella term for a variety of New Age, neo-Pagan and Wiccan practices. This pejorative use of this term has been perpetuated by many conservative Christian groups. For example, “The Christian Broadcasting Network, led... Read more
Many new witches focus on spell casting as their main priority when they first get into the craft. I mean we are witches, and witches cast spells, right? So much time and energy copying correspondences from multiple sources trying to compile the perfect resource, while flipping through spell after spell until finding one that seems to vibrate with old magic. This was my goal; to filter through layer upon layer of lore until I reached the deeper core of magic... Read more
Male fitness photographer, Allan Spiers, is a modern day Renaissance Man. Born in Lima, Peru; Spiers moved to the US with his mother at the age of thirteen. He currently resides in Chicago, IL and runs the successful Vodou Store with his husband Jeff Cullen. Under the pseudonym Docteur Caeli d’ Anto, Spiers and Cullen (Hellfurian Liontari) specialize in various forms of Hoodoo, Conjure, and Witchcraft. Spiers’ talent as a photographer and graphic designer can be seen on the company’s... Read more
I have always loved Halloween and the time of year that accompanies it. I have many fond childhood memories of costumes made by my grandmother, and trick-or-treating with my younger sisters. I remember as a child gazing up at the night sky, feeling the magic in the air, and feeling the dark sky gaze back at me. There was some unexplainable strangeness that hung in the air during this time of year that left me enchanted. Now that I am... Read more
Halloween has always had a special place in my heart. Some of my best childhood memories happened during this time of the year. Those memories come rushing back when I smell dead leaves, and autumn fires burning. It wasn’t until my early teenage years when I began studying witchcraft that Halloween came to have a more sacred meaning. I came to understand it for more than just the secular holiday of costumes and haunted houses. Halloween always held more meaning... Read more
The Magician or Magus has always been my favorite tarot card. Naturally, as a magical practitioner it is the one whose symbolism I resonate with the most. I was intrigued to discover during research for my last article, that the Magician we all know and love wasn’t always part of the Tarot as we know it. I am not an expert on Tarot history or symbolism so it was very interesting for me to find out that there was... Read more
The modern division of magic into dualities of high and low, ceremonial and practical, intellectual and emotional, have shaped the development of modern witchcraft and occultism from their beginnings. Today with mainstream gender roles being challenged in society, and greater tolerance towards various gender identities we are witnessing a new synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. Within modern paganism and witchcraft there are numerous masculine and feminine archetypes of priest and priestess, within Wiccan traditions, and the general archetypes... Read more
As a solitary practitioner with an eclectic background I have researched various magical traditions from different cultures in an attempt to find a cohesive framework within which to work. I eventually settled on the broad and nebulous practice of what is often called traditional witchcraft. I don’t personally identify with a specific initiatory tradition in that sense, and I also do not deny that modern traditional witchcraft and Wiccan practices both have similar roots in the Modern Witchcraft Revival. ... Read more
Poisoner's Apothecary
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